


Fae Reunions

by Liv Campbell (perdikitti), William Alexander (zannyvix)



Series: Faerie Gifts [2]
Category: Alpha and Omega - Patricia Briggs, Mercy Thompson Series - Patricia Briggs
Genre: Adorable, Feelings, Gay Male Character, Implied Sexual Content, Implied gay sex, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Relationship(s), Trust, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5116589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perdikitti/pseuds/Liv%20Campbell, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zannyvix/pseuds/William%20Alexander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been almost a year since Sam Willoughby joined the Bluegrass Pack. Almost a year since he last saw Rob Goodfellow. No longer a lone wolf, Sam has rank and standing with the pack now. A lot of things have changed for him. But now, Rob is back in town, and the two of them have a lot to talk about. Will they be able to reconcile what lies between them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> We do not own anything in Patricia Briggs' universe. We just enjoy playing in it.
> 
> For the record, I prefer to write things that interweave with the existing canon, while disrupting the original world as little as possible. I want the stories and characters to feel as if they could be part of the same world, but playing out in different locations at the same time, before, or after events we see happen in the books and short stories. The folks I write with have similar aspirations. Canon characters may make appearances or be referenced, but our stories are primarily of other wolves and other packs. They're dealing with the same strictures and difficulties that the canon characters have dealt with, just in their own ways. For reference, this takes place roughly four years before the events in Moon Called.
> 
> Many thanks to Perdikitti, who writes with me, who helped hash out a large swath of the plot for this piece, who was responsible for bringing Rob, Owen, and others to life, and whose editing help is invaluable. =)

The rest of the pack was at home, sleeping off the excess of the holiday. Eat enough turkey, and even a werewolf’s metabolism won’t stave off a nap. I meant to run by myself, but Owen’s wolf followed me out the door with Evelyn’s at his heels. Mostly, my friends don’t let me run alone on account of what happened last year.

So much had changed since that fight on the train bridge. I wasn’t a lone wolf any longer. I had the pack, and actual friends among them. Maybe not a lot of friends, but it was more than I’d ever had before. I had rank and the responsibilities that came along with it, and if Owen had fussed at me for not fighting my way higher in the pack, I was content at holding a higher place than my loudest detractors. They couldn’t come at me anymore without a formal challenge, and I’d whupped their asses good enough to make them think twice about it. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but I had a place. I belonged, and that was enough for me.

I’d thought Owen would ease back once I’d established my place in the pack, but I guess my old friend would always display some protectiveness toward me, no matter how much I outranked him. Evelyn didn’t technically hold a rank since female wolves took rank from their mates, and she didn’t have one, but that’d never stopped her or Aggie, the other girl in the pack, from doing what they wanted. Werewolves really ain’t good with progressive thought, and it was real ironic that I had more standing as a gay man than either of the women unless they attached themselves to a male pack member.

Not even pack politics or the bleak weather managed to dampen my spirits, though. It wasn’t cold enough to snow, but it was trying anyway, spitting rain and fog blanketing the woods where we ran. My wolf reveled in the freedom and speed of the run, and the presence of our packmates. Owen was in a mood, nipping at our ankles to encourage us to go faster, to play. I wasn’t sure what had got into him. My wolf tolerated it for a bit, and then finally decided we’d had enough and turned round to tussle with our cinnamon colored packmate. That sent Evelyn’s little gold wolf trying to chew my ears off, but it was all in fun.

Owen was lying there in the frost-tipped grass, mock-growling as Evelyn nipped his tail, when I saw movement in the trees. I paused to glance in that direction, wondering if we’d scared up a deer or just disturbed some of the other local wildlife with our antics. I was still too full of turkey dinner to think about hunting seriously, but the chase is fun all on its own. One of the trees melted away like water, revealing a tall, bare, pale man with dark, curling hair.

Rob.

My heart clenched unexpectedly in my chest. The last time I'd seen him had been the morning before I'd been ambushed by five former pack members. They'd forced me off a train bridge, a three hundred foot fall to the river below. The fall had broken bones and the water nearly finished me. I still had a bit of a limp even a year later. Rob had pulled me out of the river, saved my life, and forced the Alpha to act. He was directly responsible for my becoming part of the pack...

And now he was back.

He caught me looking, looked back at me with eyes that were deep blue and unfathomable. Quicker than I could move, he was gone. I wasn’t close enough to catch his scent, and I was leery of leading my packmates along with me. Owen knew Rob’s scent, too, and hadn’t been entirely pleased by the relationship I’d been building with the fae man. I noted the spot where I’d seen him and turned back to the other wolves instead. I wanted to talk to Rob, but not with company. I had to ditch my self-appointed minders first. The two of them were still rolling in the wet grass and leaves, unaware of what had distracted me from the run.

It took me a moment to remember I was the most dominant wolf present. I didn’t have to slip off. I could just tell the others to go home. We can’t talk as wolves, but we can still communicate. Owen must’ve caught on, ’cause he raised his head and looked at me. I gave him the signal to return to the Alpha’s house, and got a cocked ear of confusion in return. I gave the signal a second time. Owen rolled to his feet, shaking leaves and grass from his reddish coat. He nosed Evelyn back toward Alec’s home, but paused after a few steps when I didn’t follow.

His ears dropped and lifted again in question, and I just waved my tail and repeated the signal a third time. Owen wouldn’t like leaving me alone, but he couldn't disobey my order without challenging me, either. Even after a year I was still getting used to that. His tail dropped and he gave me an unhappy look, but he went, Evelyn trailing along after a momentary hesitation of her own. Once I was alone, I turned my attention to the spot where I’d seen Rob vanish.

There was nothing to see, but a familiar scent washed over me when I investigated the little grove. Rob smelled like a forest with a river running through it, wet and green. I’d learned more about being a wolf over the last year, learned to use my nose to better effect. Now I caught the hint of horse that spoke of the race track where we’d met, with just a little bit of sage and currant running underneath it all. I walked a tight circle, breathing it in, and when I found the strongest, freshest scent, I followed. Fae glamour could fool my eyes, but not my nose.

He had stayed in those trees long enough to let his scent pool, and then slipped away, but tracking him wasn’t much harder than trailing a deer. Owen had told me most of the fae didn’t take scent into account. They were as blind to it as humans, most of them. They relied on their magic to hide them from prying eyes. Rob’s trail ghosted through the trees on a path down to a little creek that was shallow enough for a wolf like me to cross. Our wild cousins might swim, but wolves like me sink.

Rob was standing in the middle of the stream with water dripping down his back. It wasn’t deep enough to swim there, but he looked like he’d been submerged. It was cold enough that a human would’ve been shivering, but Rob wasn’t. I watched him for a long moment, and then pushed forward out of the underbrush to sit on the stream’s bank. He was just as beautiful as I remembered him. He still had his dimples, just not on the cheeks most folks might think of. He let me look my fill before he turned and looked at me.

“Hullo, Sam.”

I opened my jaws in a wolfy smile and hoped my teeth didn't look too threatening. I thumped my tail in the dirt for added effect and prayed the fae could read wolf body language. I was happy to see him, really and truly. He walked over to me, the water rushing around his feet. “Have you missed me?” he murmured. “Do you even remember?”

As if I could forget him. I had to talk to him, and for that I had to be human, but for the moment I settled for rising up on my hind legs so I could place my paws on his shoulders and lick his face. Rob made a bemused noise and his fingers sank into my fur. I settled back on my haunches after a few moments and let my human self swim back to the surface, reversing the Change.

Every time we change shape, it hurts. There’s no getting around that. I’d managed to shave a few minutes off mine since joining the pack and rising in the ranks, but it still took me at least a quarter of an hour to shapeshift completely. Rob stayed still in front of me the whole time. He didn’t do anything threatening to me or to the wolf, but something bothered the wolf about him all the same. I didn’t realize what it was until I finished and was stuck, panting and human, in the mud in front of him. He was humming something soothing in a voice too clear and beautiful to be human.

I climbed slowly to my feet, shaking off the last stinging tingles of the Change, and pulled the collar off my neck. “Of course I remember you,” I told him, my voice still a little rough. My clothes were back at Alec’s place, but I didn’t care. His hand brushed my jaw like a butterfly’s wing. I went still under his touch. It hurt like a sunburn, but I didn’t care.

“And yes,” I added quietly, answering his second question, “I missed you. It’s been almost a year. Thought you might’ve forgotten about me.”

Rob shook his head, his eyes in shadow. “No. No, I didn’t forget you.”

“Well good, cuz you kinda made an impression on me,” I said with a rueful chuckle.

“Did I?” I couldn’t read him very well. There was something alien in the way Rob was holding himself, the way he let the words out, like he’d forgotten how to play human.

“You okay?” I asked him. I had no idea where things stood between us anymore. We’d had one amazing night, and then the pack had tried to kill me, and ended up stuck with me instead. And Rob had saved my life that night.

He nodded, looking at me again. That time I could see the light in his eyes as he looked me up and down. “You’ve healed well.”

“Mostly,” I agreed. “Hip still gets a little stiff on me sometimes, but I get around fine. Not bad for a fall off a three hundred foot high train bridge, though.” Rob reached for my hip and pulled back at the last second. Not that I’d have argued. He was welcome to touch me anywhere. “It’s okay now. Don’t even hurt me,” I assured him.

“I should have killed the ones who hurt you when I had the chance.”

“Alec did that,” I said. “Before I even regained consciousness. You’re the one that saved my life that night, though. If you hadn’t pulled me outta that river, that would’ve been it for me.”

“You didn’t deserve to die,” he growled.

“Precious few people do,” I returned. “But it happens all the same. I think part of me was mostly just surprised they’d waited as long as they did to ambush me like that. Most ironic part of the whole thing is they’re dead now, and I ended up part of the pack after all, somethin’ I thought I’d never have.”

Rob turned away from me. “Are you happy?”

I started to answer, and then hesitated. “Things are better now,” I allowed. “The pack makes my wolf happier, though not everybody’s thrilled at having me around. I have a few friends. It ain’t as lonesome as it was, but…” I let the word hang in the air, the rest of my phrase unspoken. There weren’t any other gay wolves in the pack. Owen was kind and Evelyn was sweet, but I didn’t really have anyone to share that part of me with. I hadn’t since Rob and I had our brief fling.

He turned back to me slowly. “But.”

"You made me happy." I felt like a corny idiot saying it, but that didn't make it less true. "I would've liked a chance to see where things went between you and me."

Rob’s smile was a little crooked. “I would have liked that, too.”

“Well, maybe it ain’t too late to try again?” I ventured. I wasn’t stupid. I knew what Rob was. Owen and Evelyn had both expanded my education where the fae were concerned after last year’s encounters. It still didn’t matter to me.

“Maybe so,” he said.

I didn’t want to push. I’d changed in the past year, and so had he. There was a brittleness to his expressions that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him. “If you’re still interested, you know where I live, and the phone number’s the same,” I told him.

Rob smiled again, a real smile this time. I had to fight not to touch him when he smiled at me like that. “Sure.”

It made me smile in return. “I’m glad you’re back. I was worried when I couldn’t get ahold of you, after I was on the mend. Your, um, I don’t know precisely what to call her, but a fae woman came by Owen’s shop a couple weeks after and told me you’d been called into service.”

A strange tension gripped Rob’s shoulders, drawing them into hackles. “Did she hurt you?”

“No,” I assured him. “She offered to take me back with her, but I told her I owed it to Alec and the pack to stay, because I do. Otherwise, she barely touched me. Owen was pretty pissed when she left, though. I had to fix the door he broke.”

“Ah.” Rob sighed. “Do that a lot, do you? Fix doors, I mean.”

“Frequently.” My smile turned wry. “I think Alec woulda made me pack a lot sooner if he’d realized how handy it can be to have a carpenter around. Werewolves are rough on the furnishings.”

Rob laughed. “I expect so.” It felt good to hear him laugh. I hadn’t realized quite how much I’d missed him until he was standing there with me. He canted his face into the breeze and sighed. “I have to go.”

“I should be gettin’ back, too,” I admitted. “I can hold my own against anybody lookin’ to come at me, but Owen still gets antsy if I stay out by myself too long.” And I either had to shift back, or make the run back to Alec’s house buck naked except for my collar.

“Be careful,” he admonished. “Please.”

“Much as I can be,” I agreed with a smile. “I ain’t exactly a helpless bunny, Rob. I don’t have to run from them or avoid them anymore, and I’m allowed to whup their asses if they get outta line.”

He smirked. “Remind them of that if they push you. It's good for you.”

“I do,” I told him, though in truth I was pretty happy to leave folks alone as long as they gave me the same courtesy. Once I’d gotten above the mouthiest jerks in the pack, there hadn’t been much need to climb higher.

“Happy looks good on you,” he said. A wicked gleam flashed in his eyes as he gave me another slow perusal. “And better off of you.”

I laughed. “Keep talkin’ like that and we’ll neither of us get back to where we’re supposed to be,” I half-teased, half threatened and grinned at him.

His eyes darkened. “Ah, temptation.” Rob reached out and skimmed his fingers down my jaw. “I wish I could. You’ll answer if I call?”

“Count on it,” I replied, catching his hand in mine before he could pull away entirely. I gave his fingers a squeeze before I released my grip. “See you soon, I hope.”

Rob took a step back, melting into the trees, but his voice rang out all around me. “It’s a date.”

 

 


	2. Rebuilding Bridges

Owen found me not long after I’d finished showering and dressed in one of the spare bathrooms in Alec’s big house. He’d opted for sweats this time rather than the pretty frock he’d had on at dinner, but Owen was a striking man no matter what he wore. Too bad he was only interested in women.

“What was that all about, Sammy?” he asked, leaning against the door frame while I toweled my short hair dry.

“What was what about?” I returned the question mildly and tossed the towel in the hamper.

“Sending us back to the house,” he answered, crossing his arms.

I sighed. “Owen, it’s been a year, and months since anybody tried to formally challenge me. Ain’t I allowed to do things on my own if I want?”

“They could still hurt you. Kill you.”

“They could try,” I shrugged. “I’ve proved pretty hard to kill so far, though. I’m pretty sure nobody’s gonna try and ambush me again, not after what happened last time. Y’can’t babysit me forever, Owen.”

“Can’t I?” he growled.

“No,” I told him. “Look, I appreciate your company. I really do. You’re the only one who stuck by me all those years I was a lone wolf, but you gotta let me have space to breathe every now and then. For cryin’ out loud, I’m half a dozen ranks above you, now.” I ran my fingers through my damp hair, which probably set it all on end. “Sometimes I’m just gonna want to do things by myself.”

Owen rubbed his face with the heel of his hand. “It’s just that simple, is it?”

‘“Yes. No. Aww, I dunno, Owen. I wasn’t tryin’ to upset you,” I said. After giving it a moment’s consideration, I sucked in a breath and told him the real reason I’d stayed out on my own. “Rob’s back,” I admitted. “I spotted him while you and Evelyn were tusslin’. I wanted a chance to go and talk with him without anybody else around.”

Owen lifted his head, his nostrils flaring with the hunt. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, he did not,” I said, a little annoyed at the overprotective attitude. “He’s never done anythin’ to hurt me.”

He sighed and turned away from me. “Right. Right.” Owen cleared his throat. “You know we’re your friends, don’t you?”

“Of course I know that,” I replied. “Never doubted it. But I also figured you might do somethin’ to try and defend me if you saw Rob, and it’s mighty hard to have a conversation with somebody when your friend’s tryin’ to chew their face off.”

He pulled a face. “I will never purposefully maul your beaux. Unless they deserve it, of course.”

“Fair enough,” I allowed. “I don’t know precisely where things stand between me and Rob right now, but I do like him, and he did save my life by pullin’ me outta that river. That’s gotta count for somethin’. I want to see him again. Maybe it’ll work out between us, and maybe it won’t, but I won’t know unless I try.”

“I...” Owen sighed. “All right.”

“I’ll try not to ditch y’all in the future without warnin’, if that helps,” I offered.

“That would help,” he allowed. “I know you can take care of yourself. You're more than capable. That's not the same as never causing worry.”

“I get the feelin’ you’re gonna fret over me as long as I live, no matter what I do,” I teased gently and clasped his shoulder.

“You never had children,” Owen grumbled. “You don’t understand worrying over someone you care about.”

“I have a dog,” I pointed out. “And I care about you, too, though I don’t think you need me hoverin’ over your every move.” I hadn’t known Owen had had children. Older wolves didn’t tend to talk much about their pasts.

It was equally likely that my friend was just a grouch. “I’m getting too old to keep caring.” Owen reached up and ruffled my hair. “Just keep in mind that some of us will stand by even while you moon over a fae, even when we know better.”

“I really do appreciate that,” I said. Owen might not outrank me anymore, but he was Alec’s friend, and the Alpha could forbid me to see Rob. So far he hadn’t, but the possibility remained. That Owen wasn’t urging him to order me to avoid my fae friend really did mean a lot to me.

“You better, ” he grumbled, yanking a shirt over his head. I waited until he’d tugged it into place, and then pulled him into a hug. Seemed to me like he could use one. He fussed because that's what Owen always did, but I could feel his relief all the same.

“I’m hungry,” I told him after I let go and stepped back. “Think there’s any turkey left in the kitchen?”

“There were at least two spares earlier.” He flapped his hands at me. “Go eat.”

“All right,” I agreed with a smile. Giving him something more benign to fret at me about seemed to make Owen happier than worrying over me. My wolf didn’t even take umbrage at getting an order from a lesser ranked pack member. I think both of us were a little worried about Owen.

 

* * *

 

I had a blinking light on my answering machine by the time I got home. With a twinge of apprehension, I hit the play button and paused to listen. It was probably just work related,  someone getting back to me about an appointment or a quote, but Rob had said he would call.

“Hullo, Sam.” Rob’s familiar voice filled the room. “I told you I’d call. Here I am.” He paused for a long breath. “I haven’t really...landed on my feet just yet. But I didn’t give you my number earlier.” He rattled it off. “You’re welcome to call whenever you like.”

A little of the tension that had plagued me since our meeting in the woods eased away. I listened to the message again, committing the number to memory. Should I call back right away? He sounded less certain than I remembered, and I’d promised to answer. Making him wait might lead him to believe I wasn’t interested after all. I reached for the phone and dialed the number Rob had given. He’d kept up his side, so I would keep up mine.

“Sam?”

“Hey Rob.” I couldn’t quite keep the smile off my face. “Just got your message.”

“Did you, now? It’s good to hear your voice.”

“And yours,” I agreed. “So much has happened in the last year. I know you said you ain’t quite settled yet. Think we could meet and maybe do some catching up once you’re able and feeling up to it?”

“I’d like that.”

“At least we shouldn’t get any interference from the pack this time,” I told him.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” I bit back a sigh. “Apparently somebody saw you leave my house after the night we spent together, and that was enough to tip a few of ‘em over from just hatin’ me on sight to decidin’ I needed to die.” I’d learned to fight a lot better since then. It had been necessary to gain and keep the rank I’d earned in the pack.

“I see,” he said very softly. I had the funniest feeling that he did.

“It ain’t your fault, Rob,” I replied. “They’d’ve gone after me sooner or later anyway. It was just a convenient excuse.” And they’d have known better than to take on one of the fae. If I’d hooked up with a human, those wolves might have tried to kill him, too, or worse.

“Sex is the original source of all trouble,” he said.

“Ain’t it, though? Thing is, while I ain’t keen to repeat takin’ a swan dive off a bridge, the night before, that was memorable in ways I ain’t forgotten,” I said, keeping my voice light. “Those memories got me through a few dark moments in the last year. I wouldn’t mind havin’ a few more like that.”

It’s funny how smiling has a sound. It’s still silent, but you can feel it. “I’d like that, too,” Rob finally said.

“Glad to hear it.” I hadn’t wanted him to think I held him in any way responsible for the attack on me.

“How about Wednesday?”

“Wednesday’s good,” I agreed. “How does coffee sound?”

“Good. It sounds good.”

“There’s a coffee shop on Main that makes damn good pastries. Three o’clock okay? I gotta swing by a new job site to give somebody a quote in the mornin’, but my afternoon’s free.”

“I'll be there.”

“Alrighty, see you then.”

 

* * *

 

We’re good hunters, my wolf and me. I wrapped things up with my client early enough to beat Rob to the coffee shop by more than thirty minutes. The windows were the sort that are mirrored against the sun, so I saw Rob long before he saw me. He looked tired, and his clothes had seen better days. They had that rumpled, never folded look, like he’d been living out of a suitcase.

Whatever his fae boss had had him doin’, it’d taken a toll. Part of me wanted to ask where he’d been the past year, what he’d been up to, but it wasn’t any of my business. There were pack things I couldn’t talk about with him, so it wouldn’t be fair of me to interrogate him over what he’d been doing. He probably couldn’t tell me in any case.

Instead, I pushed the plate of pastries I’d ordered toward him in wordless invitation when he spotted me at my corner table.

“Hullo there,” Rob said, slouching into the chair across from mine.

“Hey.” I smiled. Fae could use glamour to look like pretty much whatever they wanted. That he didn’t look perfectly polished said a lot. “Stomach wouldn’t let me wait on food, but I haven’t ordered a drink yet. What’s your preference?”

“Coffee is fine,” he said, watching me. That wariness I’d noted in the woods when I’d first seen he was back had returned in muted measure. My wolf added that it seemed more like the attitude of a hurt predator than injured prey. Rob was a lot of things, but never prey.

“Be right back,” I promised, and went to the counter to order drinks. I returned to the table a few minutes later, cups in hand. Coffee hadn’t done a thing for me since I’d been turned into a wolf, but I still enjoyed it.

Rob flashed a cat in the cream smile when I handed his coffee over. “You remembered how I take this.”

“I try and keep track of stuff like that,” I admitted. “My first job when I was a kid, workin’ construction in the summers with my dad, was goin’ to get coffee for the guys on the site. I learned to pay attention so I didn’t get my ear chewed off for doin’ it wrong. Guess that just always stuck with me.”

Rob ran his fingers along the rim of his cup, his expression distant. “Did you, now?”

“Uh huh. And we raised elephants in the back behind the tool shed,” I added to see if he was listening.

He smiled faintly and sat up a little straighter. “Elephants?”

“Sorry,” I apologized. “You looked like you were ‘bout a million miles away just then.”

“My apologies.”

I waved it off. “Na, it’s okay. Y’just look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“I… It’s been a long year,” Rob said, looking down into his cup. “Did you really have elephants?”

It took an effort, but I managed not to snort my coffee when I laughed. “Oh, no. Had dogs, though. Not quite the same scale, I imagine.”

“No. Elephants are much larger. And harder to ride,” he said thoughtfully.

“I did see one at a circus once when I was a kid,” I mused, and then felt my face heat. “I, uh, haven’t gotten out much these past few years. Travel’s a little harder when you’re… well. Like me.”

“I understand.” Rob smiled faintly. “I don’t travel much these years, except—” he opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The forest and river scent he always carried grew momentarily stronger, overlaid by a moss and turned earth note I recognized as belonging to his boss, the fae from the track whom Rob answered to.

“Y’don’t have to say,” I told him. “I know how that can be. Came as a bit of a shock the first time Alec gave me a real order and I couldn’t even try and disobey. I imagine your folk have somethin’ similar.” Owen had told me the word for it, but it was spelled weird and pronounced even funnier, and I couldn’t recall what it was for the life of me.

“Geas,” he rasped.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’ve heard of those.” I reached to touch his hand where it rested on the table. “It’s okay. God knows there’s stuff I can’t talk ‘bout either.”

Rob nodded. A little bit of the wildness in his eyes faded. I gave his fingers a squeeze.

"So," I said, "what would you rather talk about?"

“I don’t…” He took a deep breath, his fingers curling around mine. “I don’t know.” He grinned tiredly. “Imagine that. For once, I find myself without speech.”

“That’s quite the trick for you. Usually I’m the one left tongue-tied.” I could recall at least one other instance where I’d managed to leave Rob speechless, but now didn’t seem to be the time to bring that up. “Most of my life lately’s revolved around either carpentry contracting or pack stuff. ‘Fraid I ain’t all that exciting a person, but I can talk your ear off ‘bout woodwork.”

He stroked my hand absently. “You have a good life, Sam. A normal life.”

“I’m a werewolf. I don’t think normal really fits the bill,” I drawled very quietly, but I was smiling. "Having the pack's made my wolf a little steadier, a little easier to deal with, but it also means I get called on a lot more often to fix busted doors and holes in drywall and paneling. Never expected all those years ago when I was an apprentice that I'd end up the in-house carpenter for a bunch of werewolves. It's about as far from normal as it gets."

“It’s close enough,” Rob said.

I nodded. "Close as somebody like me is likely to get, I suppose. It ain't all good, but it ain't all bad either. I manage."

“That’s all?” I wasn’t sure what Rob was angling at. “Someone like you and you haven’t found a person to share your life with?”

“Ain’t really gone out of my way to meet anybody ‘round here,” I admitted. “Before Alec made me pack, it didn’t seem right to expose a human to the sort of danger that might fall on them just for bein’ with me. If you hadn’t been, well, you, I doubt I’d’ve been the only one those assholes went after that night. That, and we ain’t allowed to tell a human partner what we are unless we’re married, and since that ain’t legal for folk like me in Kentucky… I don’t want to live with somebody I gotta lie to constantly.”

Rob nodded.

“I guess that’s one reason it was so nice to spend time with you. I don’t have to hide who or what I am, or pretend to be somethin’ I ain’t.”

“Refreshing,” he agreed, a shadow darkening his chiseled features.

“Yeah, it is,” I said.

“I...” Rob stared into the coffee he’d scarcely touched, his fingers crumpling the paper cup around the edges. Over the scent of roasting coffee, I could taste frustration and power both, with the weirdest hint of baby powder. “Bloody geas.”

“It’s okay.” His fingers tightened on mine again, and I smiled. “Yeah, it’s nice to have somebody to share that with, but it certainly don’t hurt that you’re drop dead gorgeous, fun, smart, and got a great sense of humor, too.”

Rob flashed a weary grin. “And modest, too.”

I chuckled. “Humility’s your middle name, yep.” Sobering a bit, I pressed on. “Look, Rob, I dunno if we can rekindle what we started last year, and I dunno if it’ll last. I ain’t askin’ for undying commitment. Both of us answer to people a ways further up our respective food chains, and that complicates things. I will say that the companionship was awful nice, and I’d like more of that if you’re up for it. I don’t wanna pressure you if you ain’t into it anymore, though. A lot can change in a year.”  

“It’s good to share a meal with someone who sees me as more than food,” Rob said with an ease that countered what I could smell. Unhappiness is almost a flavor, bitter and sharp to my sensitive werewolf nose. “I don’t mind trying.”

Some of my tension unwound a little bit to hear him say it. “I’m up for tryin’, too,” I agreed, and lifted my paper coffee cup in salute. He tapped his cup to mine, and I swore I almost heard them clink.

 


	3. Back Together

We started things light. Coffee days turned into lunch dates as the man I knew returned, all smiles and coy flirtation instead of shell shocked silence. I didn’t know what Rob had been through to shake him up so badly, but I didn’t plan on asking, either. The geas his boss had put on him bound him as firmly as the Alpha’s orders could bind me, and I knew from experience that digging at those orders was fruitless. So I left it alone and just focused on the here and now.

We avoided the racetrack the fae owned, and I kept us clear of the pack’s business interests, but it still left us plenty of places we could go. Rob was easy to talk to even when the lunches turned to dinners and the conversations became more serious.

“You’re over here almost every night anyway,” I pointed out one evening. We were sprawled together on my sagging old couch, which wasn’t really big enough for two. “You could just stay if you wanted.”

Rob smiled that cat in the cream smile of his. “Sure.”

“Wow, and here I had this whole list of things thought up to try and convince you.” I grinned back at him.

“Did you, now?” he purred. “No sense in putting them to waste. Let’s hear it.”  

I felt my face heat. Once he’d caught his stride, Rob had wasted no time putting me off balance again. I think he derived a good deal of pleasure just from getting me red-faced and stammary. When he stretched out against my side and started running his foot up my calf, I gave in.

“Well, it’d certainly save you on gas money not havin’ to drive back and forth between your place and mine,” I said. I didn’t actually know where Rob’s place was, but that was one of those other things I wasn’t keen on asking about. “Plus my dog likes you, and you’d get to wake up to my charmin’ face every day.” I thought about it a moment more, though thinking always seemed harder if Rob was touching me. “And I like your cooking,” I added.

He laughed in my ear. “Isn’t that a point in my favor rather than yours?”

“Werewolf,” I reminded him. “Stomach does a lot of the thinkin’ by necessity.”

His fingers skated up my abs. “So I’ve noticed,” he teased. “Not that it ever shows.”

“It shows plenty, ” I retorted.

“Are you hungry now?” Rob’s lips were close enough that I felt them brush my ear. Trouble, thy name is boyfriend.

“Mm, not for food.” When it comes to trouble, sometimes I can give as good as I get.

“No?” He sounded so innocent. We both knew that was a lie.

“Nope.” I could feel my wolf, alert but content when I reached for Rob. We knew he could be as much a predator as we were, but I thought my other half was just happy I’d found somebody.

“I have a surefire remedy for hunger,” Rob told me.

“Uh huh, what’s that?” My words had more growl in them than I’d really intended.

Rob slipped out of my grasp like a fish, popping off the couch with the acrobatic grace that fae and werewolves seemed to share. “Catch me.”

One of the hardest things for a wolf to resist is the chase, the hunt, and I was no exception. For a human, this would have been a seriously dangerous game, especially if my control was off at all, but Rob was at least as fast as me, seriously tough, and knew exactly how to push my buttons. I was up off the couch in the next instant fast enough to send it thudding back into the wall. Pretty sure I didn’t push off hard enough to leave a dent, but right about then the only thing on my mind was pursuit of the laughing fae man who dashed away through my house.

He couldn’t escape me forever. The house wasn’t that big, and he knew it before he went running off from me. I caught him in the hallway outside the bedroom. Rob turned to face me as soon as he realized he was trapped in the corner. He was grinning.

My vision had narrowed down to mostly grays, which meant the wolf was closer to the surface than it probably should have been. “My,” Rob said breathlessly, his gaze shifting south, “what big teeth you have.”

He wasn’t looking at my teeth.

“The better to eat you with,” I rumbled back the line from the children’s tale, and pounced. He caught me and laughed until I nipped his neck. I didn’t break the skin, but he sagged like good prey should, though I’ve never hunted any bunny who purred when I caught them. “Mine,” I declared, though I wasn’t certain if it was me or the wolf that made the claim. Everything got jumbled up when I was like this. Feeling triumphant at the short but successful hunt, I hoisted Rob over my shoulder and headed for the bedroom with single-minded determination. For a captive, he spent an awful lot of time kissing the back of my neck.

I unlimbered my prize and tossed him onto the bed, following before he finished the bounce. He responded by looping his arms around my neck and chuckling in my ear. That warm, eager sound sent lightning bolts down my spine to some place decidedly lower and more exciting. The hungry growl that escaped me had nothing to do with food, and everything to do with the beautiful man in my bed.

“I’m staying the night, Sam,” he huffed with laughter. “We have all the time in the world.”

It took a few moments for my brain to process what he’d said. “That’s good,” I agreed, though words were hard. If he still had enough presence of mind to speak, I wasn’t doing my job properly. If there’s one thing me and my wolf agree on, it’s doing things right. When I lifted my head again, he couldn’t speak at all.

 

* * *

 

I wish I could say life was perfect, but when is it ever?

Having Rob in my life made me happier, but living with a fae ain’t ever easy. Much as he might care for me, he couldn’t deny his own nature any more than I could rid myself of my wolf. Mostly it was little stuff, like if I’d slip up and thank him for passing the salt I might find myself with some silly quest or task to return the favor. I think he enjoyed making a game out of it. Sometimes it irked my wolf to be sent off to check four different grocery stores hunting down a specific ingredient for something Rob wanted to work on, and sometimes it didn’t. I believed deep down that my boyfriend was a good man, but he confused the hell out of my wolf.

I ain’t a submissive wolf, and while I ain’t as driven as some to exert my will on everything around me, I still have those tendencies. Rob moving in with me, even just part time, meant change. It meant sharing my space, my territory, with another person, and while I welcomed him into my home, my wolf wasn’t always happy with the incursion. Rob wasn’t precisely messy, but the man had a tendency to go through the house like a tornado leaving things scattered in his wake. Picking up after him was a minor annoyance, and usually one worth tolerating when he got to the end product of whatever he was working on.

I learned quickly that the foodie side of him I’d initially compared to Owen went far, far deeper than I’d ever imagined. My cast iron cookware got retired in favor of some high end aluminum stuff Rob could handle without hurting himself. He complained about the inconsistencies of trying to bake in my old oven, so I replaced it with a newer one left over from a client’s kitchen remodel. When my kitchen started to overflow with crocks and covered bowls and god knew what else, I divided my workshop space in the garage to give Rob more room for his projects. Apparently homemade bread just ain’t the same if you’re not churning your own butter and maturing your own cheeses.

My hangup wasn’t so much that Rob was slowly taking over my house and changing my life bit by bit. It was how little I still knew about him, even after the months we’d spent together. Some questions he answered readily, even eagerly, as if all he wanted was for me to ask. Others he didn’t even try. He never lied to me, but there were a whole lotta secrets in his silence.

I tried not to push. I knew there were things he couldn’t tell me, just like there were things about the pack I couldn’t share with him, but there were little things that didn’t seem to me worth hiding. And yet, I still found myself going through my pile of scrap wood with Rob one sunny weekend to set up shelving in a cool corner of the garage so he could age his growing collection of cheeses properly. He was fussing and clucking over them like some kind of bizarre hen.

“How ‘bout this one?” I asked, holding up a length of planking.

His brow furrowed. “No, no, that’s cedar. The wood’s aromatic properties will interfere with the natural aromas. The maple and walnut are out as well. They’ll stain the rinds. Larch or ash would be better.”

I shifted some of the lumber around. “I think there’s some knotty pine here.”

“No knots.”

“Right.” I bit back a sigh. “How about oak, then?” There were half a dozen rough cut lengths of oak planking near the bottom of the pile. I lifted the rest up with one hand so I could slide the boards out with the other.

“If they’re in decent shape, oak is tolerable,” Rob allowed.

“Stuff’s a little heavy for shelves, but that don’t bother me none,” I said. I let the scrap lumber fall back down with a clatter and lifted up the boards I’d selected so Rob could inspect them. He hummed and muttered to himself while he ran long-fingered hands up and down the wood.

“These should work,” he said, stepping back. “Now we just have to clean them.” Rob carried the one board he’d picked out of the garage and into the sunshine. I followed with the rest.

“Not just gonna snap your fingers and call it done?” I teased while he fussed with my garden hose and a couple heavy scrub brushes. “I’ve seen you do that with enough traffic lights.”

“There are no shortcuts in proper cheese making,” Rob informed me archly. “No cleaning agents. The wood would just absorb them. Water and a good scrubbing and sunlight will set things right.”

“If you say so.” I didn’t understand most of the fiddly things that went into Rob’s cooking and baking projects, but he got real intense about it. It all tasted good when he was done, and he let me eat it, so who was I to complain?

“I do say so,” Rob answered smugly.

I helped him wash and scrub boards, leaning them against the side of my truck so they could dry in the sun. “Hey Rob?” I ventured, placing the last board in my stack.

“Hmm?” He glanced up at me, the sunlight painting warm highlights in his dark hair. He’d gotten his shirt wet while we washed the boards. I tried not to let it distract me.

“I just realized it’s been almost six months we’ve been together now, and I still ain’t seen your place,” I said. I knew he had somewhere else to go. Sometimes he’d vanish for days at a time without any real explanation, and he didn’t come back smelling like hotel soap.

Rob’s smile dimmed a little. “There’s not much to see.”

“Well I kinda figured there was some reason you wanted to build a creamery in my garage rather than your own space.” I kept my voice gentle. Rob could get volatile if I pushed too hard. “I don’t mind it. I like buildin’ stuff for you. I just wondered why we only do things at my place, was all.”

“I have a studio,” Rob said, staring back into the garage at his cheeses. “Not a lot of space there for anything beyond the bed.” His expression turned sly. “Are you wanting to break it in?”

I snorted. “Not everything has to be about sex.”

“It could be,” Rob purred. “The apartment is small. Maybe too small for a wolf to feel comfortable.” He didn’t sound quite right. “I don’t want you to feel trapped with me.”

“Would I have asked you to move in if I felt trapped?” I countered.

“I don’t know.” He shook himself like a wet dog.

“You know me better than that by now,” I said. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you here. I do want you here. I just feel at times like I don’t know the real you very well.”

“That makes two of us,” he muttered under his breath. He seemed fragile somehow, just then, like a strong wind could blow him over. I could smell old pain and confusion underneath the forest and magic that would always be Rob. “I… am trying. Do you want to see my apartment?”

“Not if it’s an imposition,” I told him.

“Imposition? No.” He frowned. “Perhaps untidy, but not an imposition.”

“Spendin’ time with you is what matters most to me.” I offered him a hand up off the driveway. “So yeah, I’d like to see your apartment sometime. Right now, though, I gotta install the brackets for those shelves.”

Rob climbed to his feet with his palm in mine, and some of his gloom evaporated. “Mustn’t keep the cheese waiting,” he agreed cheerfully. “It might get upset.”

“Cheese is cheese. It don’t have feelings,” I said, and got a mock-horrified look from him in return.

“Cheese is a very sensitive entity, Sam,” Rob told me. “If you don’t treat it with respect, all manner of things can go wrong.”

“Which is why you need a particular sort of wood treated a particular sort of way?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Fair enough,” I allowed, going to my tool bench.

Rob had sketched out a plan for the corner of the garage that had more or less become his. The boards we’d just set out to dry would become shelves lining the back wall. A couple salvaged cabinets and a slab of granite countertop with a broken corner made a decent work station, and while I’m no plumber it hadn’t been too hard to run a line from the old laundry sink I used for cleanup so Rob had a tap for water. The last step was hanging some plastic sheeting to keep his butters and cheeses and whatever else free of my sawdust and in controlled temperature and humidity. He was awfully proud of the results, crooning to his cheeses as he positioned them on the shelves.

There was more cheese than I remembered, but I’d built enough shelves to hold it all. Rob fussed over placement and airflow, occasionally pulling down a round to give it an extra wipe down with a brine solution. It all seemed awfully complicated to me, but it made him happy, so I wasn’t about to stop him. Besides, I liked cheese. And bread. And everything else he cooked for me.

He’d opened up to me a little more today, showed me some of that side he kept hidden. That meant a lot. It probably wouldn’t be the last time we butted heads on this issue, but I’d take what I could get.

 

 


End file.
